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Experimental evidence for the costs and hygienic significance of the antibiotic metapleural gland secretion in leaf-cutting ants
TLDR
It is shown that major workers of this leaf-cutting ant experience a significant reduction in their respiration rate when the metapleural glands are experimentally closed, indicating that meetingapleural gland secretion incurs a substantial cost and that the production of compounds from these glands is terminated when the ants are incapable of secreting them.
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Complementary symbiont contributions to plant decomposition in a fungus-farming termite
TLDR
It is found that plant biomass conversion is mostly a multistage complementary cooperation between Termitomyces and gut bacteria, with termite farmers primarily providing the gut compartments, foraging, and nest building, and a mature queen had highly reduced gut microbial diversity for decomposition enzymes.
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Specificity in the symbiotic association between fungus-growing ants and protective Pseudonocardia bacteria
Fungus-growing ants (tribe Attini) engage in a mutualism with a fungus that serves as the ants' primary food source, but successful fungus cultivation is threatened by microfungal parasites (genus…
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Dentigerumycin: a bacterial mediator of an ant-fungus symbiosis.
TLDR
Fungus-growing ants engage in mutualistic associations with both the fungus they cultivate for food and actinobacteria that produce selective antibiotics to defend that fungus from specialized fungal parasites, and one such system is analyzed at the molecular level.
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Coevolved Crypts and Exocrine Glands Support Mutualistic Bacteria in Fungus-Growing Ants
TLDR
It is shown that ants rear the antibiotic-producing bacteria in elaborate cuticular crypts, supported by unique exocrine glands, and that these structures have been highly modified across the ants' evolutionary history.
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Mutualistic Fungi Control Crop Diversity in Fungus-Growing Ants
TLDR
It is shown that despite millions of years of predominantly vertical transmission, the domesticated fungi actively reject mycelial fragments from neighboring colonies, and that the strength of these reactions are in proportion to the overall genetic difference between these symbionts.
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Diet is the primary determinant of bacterial community structure in the guts of higher termites
TLDR
The observed patterns in the host‐specific distribution of the bacterial lineages in termite guts are best explained by diet‐related differences in the availability of microhabitats and functional niches, suggesting diet is the primary determinant of bacterial community structure.
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Hemimetabolous genomes reveal molecular basis of termite eusociality
TLDR
Dramatic adaptive changes in genes underlying the production and perception of pheromones confirm the importance of chemical communication in the termites and provide insights into the evolutionary signatures of termite eusociality.
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Chemical Analyses of Wasp-Associated Streptomyces Bacteria Reveal a Prolific Potential for Natural Products Discovery
TLDR
The prevalence and anti-microbial properties of Actinobacteria associated with these two solitary wasp species suggest the potential role of these Streptomyces as antibiotic-producing symbionts, potentially helping defend their wasp hosts from pathogenic microbes.
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Identifying the core microbial community in the gut of fungus‐growing termites
TLDR
The results suggest that the obligate association with Termitomyces has forced the bacterial gut communities of the fungus‐growing termites towards a relatively uniform composition with higher similarity to their omnivorous relatives than to more closely related termites.
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